The phrase crime is statutory offenses refers to the idea that for an act to be considered a crime has to be statute by the government as a crime. In other words, an act or behavior is not a crime unless the state government or the Congress has criminalized it. One cannot be charged or arrested for a behavior that is not legally a criminal statute by the government. For example, according to the law drinking under the age of 21 years is a crime and if someone breaks the law they will be charged for that. But if someone over the age of 21 years drinks it is completely fine.
Criminal intent is a conscious decision of an individual to commit a crime. It is understanding of the behavior of an individual on whether they knew the consequences of their actions or not. A person who has planned an act of crime has the criminal intent. For instance, someone who has planned the murder will be considered criminal intent. However, there are instances when the criminal intent is questionable such as infancy, intoxication, and insanity (Mallor, 2013). But if the government can prove that the criminal or the person was well aware of the activities they did or planned out an act then it will be considered criminal intent.
In my viewpoint, the Fifth Amendment is the most used safeguard in the legal system. It is a kind of safety aspect for the criminals and their rights. If Marinda’s rights are violated when a person is arrested then it could change the result of the case. It also protects individuals against self-incrimination as it protects them from any forced testimony against themselves. According to this amendment, a person has the right to remain silent and the government will do the needful to prove his or her crime (Bentz, 2012). The Fifth Amendment maximally ensures that a person is “innocent until proven guilty.”
A person cannot be charged twice for the same crime in one state but if the crime has multiple victims or spans multiple criminal prosecutions then a person can be prosecuted twice. For example, an act can be counted as two separate criminal acts if it violated the law of two different states. If the conduct was not guilty in a federal case court then a person might be tried in a civil or a state court. If a person has robbed a bank and hostage the people then there are chances that the person will be charged with different crimes for one action.
RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and is a federal law in the United States. The primary purpose of this law was to tackle organized crime in the country. The act has been used to protect the unethical activities of the business. For example, if there is a pattern (two or more) of racketeering activities in the business, then it would come under the RICO act leading to penalties, jail time or in some cases both (Geary, 2000). Examples of activities are illegal gambling, murders, money laundering, women trafficking, drug trafficking, or any other unethical business practices. If any business enterprise is performing these activities then the business group is prosecuted under the RICO act of the United States.
